Parma wallaby

Macropus parma

Blamed on foxes

IUCN status: Near Threatened

EPBC Threat Rating: Not assessed

IUCN claim: “Forest fragmentation combined with predation from foxes appear to be the principal reasons for the decline of the species. Grazing and burning regimes that affect availability of shelter are a disadvantage to populations (maxwell et al. 1996). Reintroductions of the species have been unsuccessful due to fox predation.”

Studies in support

Found in 1% of fox scats in one site (Glen et al. 2011). In one study, foxes hunted 12 of 12 reintroduced, predator-inexperienced, wallabies (Short et al. 1992).

Studies not in support

No studies

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

There are no studies evidencing a negative association between foxes and parma wallaby populations. The fate of reintroduced animals is not a reliable proxy for the fate of populations.

Evidence linking Macropus parma to foxes. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Macropus parma and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Macropus parma, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance.

References

Glen, A. S., et al. “Diets of sympatric native and introduced carnivores in the Barrington Tops, eastern Australia.”†Austral Ecology†36.3 (2011): 290-296.

Short, J., Bradshaw, S. D., Giles, J., Prince, R. I. T., & Wilson, G. R. (1992). Reintroduction of macropods (Marsupialia: Macropodoidea) in Australia—a review. Biological Conservation, 62(3), 189-204.

Wallach et al. 2023 In Submission